Online
Open Floor
Ground Floor Lab
taught by
Stacey Butcher, Heather Ehlers and Jenny Macke
September 9-13, 2020
Ground Floor Lab is a five-day, in-depth tour of Open Floor movement practice. Three of our most seasoned teachers team up to immerse students in our dance curriculum. You’ll come away with an understanding of the core teachings and the skills to use them in your life, both on and off the dance floor.
This program attracts a diverse, international community of like-minded dancers who are interested in bringing embodied movement into their work and incorporating it into their lives. Attending a Ground Floor Lab is a prerequisite for anyone interested in training with Open Floor.
This program will be our first online Ground Floor Lab. The teaching team has put a lot of thought, care and consideration into developing a program that utilizes online learning in ways that bring you the full Ground Floor Lab experience while maintaining the need for health and safety. We are movers who turn towards the body to inform and inspire. Our goal, at the end of 5 days, is for you to feel more curious, invigorated, alive and satisfied, from time and money well spent, as you explore on your dance journey.
There will be 30 hours of in-depth exploration of the Open Floor Curriculum. We will have 6 hours of engagement per day (this does not mean you will be glued to your zoom screen for the whole 6 hours).
Even though it will be taught differently than it would be in person, the teaching team is committed to bringing you the full Ground Floor Lab experience.
This will fulfill the Ground Floor Lab prerequisite for Open Floor Teachers Training.
The lab will now be taught by three teachers: Heather Ehlers, Stacey Butcher, and Jenny Macke.
What happens in a Ground Floor Lab?
- There are sessions for each of the ten Core Movement Resources, a universal movement language found in all embodied practices.
- You’ll have a taste of how we move on the Open Floor through the Four Dimensions of Embodiment and the Four Relational Hungers.
- Each movement session includes a look behind the scenes as professionals. This gives interested teachers/trainees an understanding of the intention, structure and purpose of each experience.
- The team will overview the philosophy and core values that inform the Open Floor teachings. This includes Dynamic Governance, our non-hierarchical, transparent organizational structure.
- You’ll have ample opportunity to ask questions, get curious and understand which training path might be right for you.
Added benefits of having the Ground Floor Lab on Zoom:
- You will be building a network and having rewarding interconnections with participants from a wider geographical area.
- You will be practicing fluidity in an ever-changing world. In other words, how do we learn to make it work – even if it is not our preference – and turn towards presence with “what is”? This is an embodied practiced skill that we work with in Open Floor.
- You will work with the embodied resources of the Open Floor curriculum while actually dancing in your home. We teach towards “As on the dance floor, so in life” (Kathy Altman, Open Floor Founder). This is an opportunity for this concept to really be explored, in an intimate way, close to home.
- You will save money and help the environment by not driving back and forth to the venue.
Pre-requisites: To attend the Ground Floor Lab, a student must have taken at least 75 hours of conscious dance practice, of which at least 15 hours are Open Floor workshops or classes.
Schedule:
Our schedule will be as follows (hours are U.S. Pacific Daylight Time):
- Wed, Sept 9: 10 am – 1 pm & 3 – 6 pm
- Thurs, Sept 10: 10 am – 1 pm & 5 – 8 pm
- Fri, Sept 11: 10 am – 1 pm & 3 – 6 pm
- Sat, Sept 12: 10 am – 1 pm & 3 - 6 pm
- Sun, Sept 13: 10 am – 1 pm & 2 – 5 pm
Investment: $650
Cancellation policy: Cancellation up to 30 days before an event: refund minus a $100 fee. No refunds less than 1 month from the start of a Lab.
Bonus: For anyone who does the Ground Floor Lab online, they can get a 40% discount if they decide to do another Ground Floor Lab in person in the future. However, if there is a limit to the number of participants (a smaller venue) at that lab, the faculty can agree to cap the number of repeat students accepted.
Feedback from our students
“This was the richest workshop I ever attended. A perfect balance of form and depth. A great multi-dimensional movement cycle”
“I felt like I could really explore emotions, relations, without collapsing into them. It was a really good clue for teaching : you can explore your sensations on the dance floor, and welcome them without getting lost, with a kind of step back position”.
“My heart opened, I could soften and, at the same time, take responsibility for where I am and where I want to go. So I feel clear and a part of something bigger than me at the same time.”
“I felt like I could really explore emotions, relations, without collapsing into them. It was a really good clue for teaching : you can explore your sensations on the dance floor, and welcome them without getting lost, with a kind of step back position”.
“My heart opened, I could soften and, at the same time, take responsibility for where I am and where I want to go. So I feel clear and a part of something bigger than me at the same time.”
And here are a few words from one of our assistant teachers for the Lab, Farshid Farrahi
Moved to Teach from Open Floor International on Vimeo.
